// Distribution

 At long last, you have finished your game. That last bug is finally squashed, the graphics look great and the gameplay is actually fun. Give yourself a pat on the back, you have earned it. Now, its time to share your games to the world and finally see the rewards of your hard labor.

You need to be careful with how you distribute your games. As discussed in the game engines entry, some engines will not allow you to sell or publish your games. I HIGHLY recommend looking up your engines distribution license before you publish as it can save you a lot of trouble. Also, credit the people who worked on your game. It could help boost your popularity as a solo dev to give yourself credit for your work, but you need to make sure that everything that was not your own work is credited. Hired an artist? Credited. Used a sound from a free library? Credited. Your buddy Jimmy made the secret bucket that only 1% of players will find? Credited. Its safer to credit everybody involved unless clarified otherwise as making a profit from somebody elses work could get you in a ton of legal trouble and its overall just rude to steal.

So, You have done everything else so far and are finally ready to distribute your game to the masses! I will be recommending my top 3 ways of getting your game out to the public and how to do it.

Physical. Theres nothing like a physical release. In our ever digitalized worlds, it might seem redundant or useless and yeah, you might not get the best luck doing so. A physical release is where you put your game on a physical object (DVD, Floppy Disk, USB Drive) and give it to a customer. This can be hard to not only sell but to make as you would have to burn each DVD and are in limited supply. This way of distribution is slowly dying out as people prefer digital games they can buy at any time and not worry about stock. Its also hard to change the game after. Say you forgot to add the super secret bucket. Now, each copy of the game will need to be recalled and changed to the latest version costing even more.

 Development team behind No Mans Sky holding the first physical copy

Steam. Time to go digital. Steam is the worlds largest game publishing platform with over 130,000 games. For a fee of $100 per game, you can publish any game you have made to the platform. Steam will host your game, allow users to buy it, and give you a cut of the profits. It also allows you to push updates at any time, allowing users to get the latest version instantly. Steam is great as its very developer friendly, and already has millions of users. If you are looking to profit off your games, I would highly recommend steam as anybody into PC gaming will most definitely have it.

Itch.io Itch is the 2nd best option when it comes to distribution. It does not require a fee like steam, however it also has its drawbacks. For instance, when a user buys your game they get a download of that current build. If you publish an update, you would have to download the entire game again. Its not perfect, however it definitely will help you build a name for yourself as a game developer and get your feet wet. I recommend Itch over Steam as Steam is a direct investment hoping it does not flop. Itch is also a lot more competitive as it hosts even more games than steam at over 830,000 games. However, Itch targets itself to indie developers, people making their first games. You dont expect to find the best looking games, the huge teams, the awards, just people making the best games they can and wanting to show the world. 

However you distribute your games, selling them or just sharing them with friends, you did it. You have made a game and thats something to be proud of. It was not easy, you wanted to quit at times, got stuck on that one bug, or lost motivation for months, but you got it done, and you should be proud of that. I hope this blog helped you understand the world of game development and inspired you to make your own. I was happy to be able to share my advice as this is one of my favorite hobbies. This is TheCodingManiac, signing off.